The Shop on Main Street (1965)

Name: The Shop on Main Street (1965)
Cast: Ida Kamińska, Jozef Kroner, František Zvarík, Hana Slivková

Hoezo in KINO

This harrowing tale was realized by director duo Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos and describes how a Gentile citizen gets ordered to shadow a Jewish shopkeeper to eventually replace him in a nazi scheme that leads to an all too familiar historical horror. With an antagonist like nazi Germany, this film didn’t need any sleight of hand to convey alternative motives like its Wave brethren as the Soviet led film board supported these themes wholeheartedly. The result is a more straightforward but excellent film with great performances, beautiful camerawork and lauded by audiences and critics alike, even bagging an Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture in 1966. Slovak language with English subtitles.

Credits

Regie: Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos
Cast: Ida Kamińska, Jozef Kroner, František Zvarík, Hana Slivková
Genre: drama, oorlog
Speelduur: 128 minuten
Land: Tsjechoslowakije
Taal: Slovak
Ondertiteling: English

Storyline

In a small town in Nazi-occupied Slovakia during World War II, decent but timid carpenter Tono is named “Aryan comptroller” of a button store owned by an old Jewish widow, Rozalie. Since the post comes with a salary and standing in the town’s corrupt hierarchy, Tono wrestles with greed and guilt as he and Rozalie gradually befriend each other. When the authorities order all Jews in town to be rounded up, Tono faces a moral dilemma unlike any he’s known before.